


The Tome of Magical Delights

by Lilian_Cho



Category: Arthurian Mythology & Adaptations - All Media Types, Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Community: kinkme_merlin, Community: summerpornathon, Footnotes, Humor, M/M, Magic, One Shot, Season/Series 01, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-23
Updated: 2010-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:19:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilian_Cho/pseuds/Lilian_Cho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for summerpornathon's kindness challenge; answers the first half of this kinkme_merlin prompt: Arthur/Merlin, magic book. Merlin finds a sort of magic book that turns him on and makes him come in the best kind of ways whenever he fondles it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tome of Magical Delights

Merlin was bored. Arthur was away on some diplomatic visit[*](http://archiveofourown.org/works/108841#work_endnotes), and he would not be back for at least another fortnight. When the third Arthur-less day rolled around, Gaius had refused to tolerate Merlin's moping any longer. So here he was, skulking behind the dusty tomes in the library.

Scanning the spines before him, he noticed that one of them was defaced. He traced the carved letters with his finger.

"The Tome of...Masterful Delights? Musical Delights?" The letters sparked suddenly, and Merlin yelped.

Geoffrey gave him a disdainful look.

"I thought I saw a spider! My eyes! They were playing tricks on me!" He gave the librarian a wide, innocent smile. Judging from Geoffrey's wince, he had probably overshot "innocent" to "village idiot."

He waited until Geoffrey returned to his court records before sneaking with the book into a nook.

Try as he might, he couldn't feel any malevolent aura. _Maybe that spark earlier was some freak scientific phenomenon[**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/108841#work_endnotes)?_

Turning to the first page, Merlin noticed spidery handwriting on the margins.

"Women are tender creatures, therefore they prefer tender beginnings."

Merlin suspected that this book was less a guide to musical instruments and more a guide to... lady parts. And since Merlin's sum of experience with women was two kisses (Gwen didn't count), he turned to the next page with excited curiosity.

The book gave ambiguously worded advice on how to inflame the senses; it included helpful illustrations of bare-chested women covered by strategic flora. Merlin squinted at the single orchid blossom clasped in front of a brunette's "cavernly delights."

The blossom fluttered.

Merlin's eyes grew wide. He quickly turned to check if Geoffrey was watching, but the librarian was engrossed in his own work.

Bending back to the page, Merlin found the woman, sans orchid, leering at him.

He slammed the book shut.

Muttering a spell of concealment, he proceeded to smuggle the book out of the library.

*****

Later that evening, after he was done with his chores for Gaius, Merlin returned to his room with anticipation.

He sat on his bed and took the book from under his pillow[***](http://archiveofourown.org/works/108841#work_endnotes). As his fingers caressed the binding, he felt a sense of apprehensive excitement.

This time, he found not a naked woman, but a picture of a man: a golden-haired young man wearing a nearly transparent red tunic. The man had broad shoulders and strong, capable-looking arms.

Merlin reminded himself not to squint.

_Was it just his imagination, or did the man's features begin to resemble Arthur's?_

Blushing, he closed the book before the Arthur lookalike could take off his tunic.

That night, Merlin dreamt of the golden-haired young man.

A skilled tongue mapped out the contours of his body and, instead of feeling gross, Merlin moaned his enjoyment. When the man lifted his head from Merlin's inner thigh, Merlin blindly reached up to grab him. "More, Arthur, _please_."

Arthur chuckled. Calloused hands grabbed his arse and lifted him. "Since you beg so prettily."

Merlin wanted to protest that _he wasn't begging, he was just being polite_, but Arthur's tongue was already slipping into his mouth, muffling his words.

The kissing soon turned urgent and, with breathless laughter, Merlin divested Arthur of his soft red tunic. He placed open-mouthed kisses along Arthur's jaw, and tasted the salt from his neck.

"Arthur, Arthur—"

"Yes, right _there_."

*****

In the morning, Merlin woke up sticky and enlightened.

He didn't even _know_[****](http://archiveofourown.org/works/108841#work_endnotes) that two men could do that. He hadn't understood before how sex between two men could be pleasurable. However, his dream self had most definitely enjoyed the full experience. Over and over again.

With Arthur away, Merlin had some time to himself. Later this afternoon, he could bring the book to Arthur's chamber for a brief nap...

**Author's Note:**

> * When Merlin whined asking Arthur to bring him along, Arthur told him that Uther didn't want "that mentally deficient servant of yours" around to sabotage the goodwill meeting.
> 
> ** Like how half the castle became invisible during last month's thunderstorm. Gaius had drawn an official astronomy chart to explain the scientific phenomenon to Uther.
> 
> *** The space under his bed was already occupied by one magic book, after all. With his luck, the books' magic would interact and animate the missing-one-orchid-blossom brunette.
> 
> **** He'd always thought that Will was having him on. It sounded too dirty to not be one of Will's arsenal of jokes.
> 
> [ [LJ](http://lilian-cho.livejournal.com/334308.html) | [DW](http://lilian-cho.dreamwidth.org/14608.html) ]


End file.
